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Forum:The Great Import Project
Hey, everyone. So, here's the plan: Because we're a relatively new wiki, and for a small number of reasons which I will lay out below, I've initiated "The Great Import Project." What this means is that major topics, minor topics, etc. should be imported (either through simple copy-and-pasting or ) from Wikipedia to help get things started. Now, I know what some of you are thinking: "importing stuff from Wikipedia? Ugh." And, yes, if things were different then I would probably feel the same way for the most part (there are always exceptions). That being said, the best way for a new project to get its feet on the ground is to have a solid and expansive base of articles which people, both established and new editors, can work on. I've been involved with a number of large wikis over the years, and the one thing that most of them have in common is that, when they were first starting out, they imported the base of their article count from Wikipedia for the main reason that I laid out above. Also, remember, over time (days, weeks, months, etc.) these articles will change and slowly become a pure EDGE MMA product: People will come along with knowledge on a particular subject and expand a short article; totally re-write an imported article to make it better; or simply re-work stuff that's already there to make it sound better. Remember, it is always easier for someone to come along and edit an existing article than create a whole new article — especially if they are new to wikis and may not know the ropes yet. More information on reasons can be found below, including what to do with newly imported content. Questions relating specifically to this process should be asked in the "Comments" section below. Questions relating to a specific article should be asked on that article's talk page. Thanks, everyone. [[User:Greyman|'Greyman']] [[User talk:Greyman|'Talk']] 15:02, March 25, 2010 (UTC) Reasons *To provide a solid base for EDGE MMA editors to edit from, including popular topics which will be the most searched for; *Over time, imported content will be edited to the point where those articles will become a product of EDGE MMA editors; *It is easier for someone, both established and new, to edit an existing article with a tag on it, than no article at all; *It allows for Google and other search engines to start indexing EDGE MMA articles faster, thus allowing for more site hits when people search for particular MMA topics; *Will help give people examples to work from. The easiest way to get familiar with wiki-editing is by looking at an example. Yes, help pages are invaluable in helping lay out the procedures, but sometimes people just need to see an example so they can gain the confidence to replicate what they see into a new article; *Red links. Imported content will create tons of red links, and as people begin to learn how EDGE MMA does things and become comfortable with editing wikis, they will want to create new articles from red links that they come across. More red links also means more content which can be auto-generated by the "Wanted pages" box on the Main Page. Instructions "Importing" Since is restricted to administrators, they are the only ones who are able to import pages. So, there are two things you can do: #Look at the source code (by clicking the "Edit" tab) of a Wikipedia article and copy it to your clipboard. Then come back to EDGE MMA, load and paste the code you copied into the "Text" field. Make sure to create the title of the article following EDGE MMA's Naming conventions (most of the time, Wikipedia article titles are acceptable for "people" articles. For other types of articles, take a look at the Naming conventions page). Make sure to click the "Preview" button before saving so you can see what you need to remove. Remove any Wikipedia-specific templates (such as Wikipedia infoboxes, citation templates, etc.); place or at the top of the article; place it in the correct article category; click "Save page" and you're done with the article; then place and on that article's talk page, following the instructions here for the Wikipedia template. #Add a request to the "Request an import" section below. What to do with imported content #Imported pages can be found in the ' '; #If an article was imported at an unacceptable title (such as "John Smith (mixed martial artist)") click the "Move" button and move that article to its proper name ("John Smith"); #Remove any Wikipedia-specific templates (such as Wikipedia infoboxes, citation templates, etc.); #Remove any Wikipedia-specific images from the article; #Remove links to non-MMA subjects, such as countries, cities, random things, etc; #Remove any remaining Wikipedia categories and add the correct EDGE MMA category(s); #If required, place and/or at the top of the article; #For country names appearing in the template , remove any Wikipedia short-forms (USA, JPN, CDN, etc.) and replace them with the full country name (United States, Japan, Canada, etc.) so that the EDGE MMA template will work properly; #*If after renaming the country to its full name a flag does not generate in the template, it simply means that that specific country's flag has not yet been uploaded to EDGE MMA. Simply find the .svg file on Wikipedia for that flag, download it (as an .svg – very important) to your computer, and upload it to EDGE MMA under the filename of "Country-name flag" (example, File:Canada flag.svg) #Create internal links to fighter articles, promotions, etc. that were not "linked" at Wikipedia because they were not "notable." #Once the page is saved, place and on that article's talk page. The "Wikipedia" template uses the syntax of , where "article_name" is the name of the article on Wikipedia. Make sure to place a dash between words. The template can also be used without the "article_name" field. Remember, as articles change over time and Wikipedia content is re-written or otherwise, the will be removed from those article's talk pages. It's all about being a work in progress. Think long term for this sort of project. Request an import Since is restricted to administrators, place import requests here in list format (placing a * before your entry). Completed requests will be struck through (like this) and signed off by the administrator who imported it. Likewise, other editors are welcome to help out the administrators with these requests by following the instructions laid out in the "Importing" section above (remember to sign and strike out requests as you complete them). Requests Comments